It’s deja vu at the KCOM Stadium after another Summer of more outs than ins as Hull City prepare for life in the Championship.

Our pundits look into the future and see what the 2017-18 season holds ...

Peter Swan, columnist and former Hull City record signing

This summer has felt like another missed opportunity. I hoped City’s board would have learned lessons from 12 months ago but they’ve been slow to get things together again.

More signings will come in before the end of the transfer window but they’ve been playing catch-up on their rivals ever since being relegated and losing Marco Silva.

It’s hard to be too optimistic for this season because of the turnover of players we've seen.

The majority of the club’s assets have been sold and it was hard to begrudge any of those players for moving on. That’s meant there’s no continuity from one year to the next.

PULLING PINTS, NO PUNCHES: Hull City pundits for the BBC, David Burns and Peter Swan (Image: Simon Renilson)

Getting it right from the word go will be difficult, especially given all that’s happened this summer. You would like to think Leonid Slutsky has been a good appointment given his background but I’ll reserve judgement until we’ve seen his style of play.

I’ll be the first to admit I was unconvinced by Silva’s appointment and look what a fantastic job he did.

Slutsky has more time to get it right than Silva but his hand doesn’t look particularly strong when you look at the competition in the Championship this season.

City have the players to be competitive but there are too many unknowns to back this squad for promotion.

Hull City's countdown to the season

Philip Buckingham, Hull City reporter

City proved plenty of us wrong when winning a direct ticket back to the Premier League two years ago but it’s far harder to picture a similar success this season.

Back then the Tigers had a season Championship promotion winner in charge and a squad far better equipped for the attritional demands of life at this level. Squad retention had been strong and signings proved to be astute.

This summer has largely been an underwhelming spell. No one was naive enough to think Marco Silva and City’s star names would stick around but more hesitancy and procrastination has diluted the feel-good factor brought by Leonid Slutsky’s appointment.

Slutsky is going to have to be very special if City are to be among the promotion candidates come May.

Hull City reporter Philip Buckingham. (Image: Jerome Ellerby)

The Championship might lack an outstanding team this season but there are plenty of sides aiming big. Middlesbrough and Wolves, for example, have come up with spending that belongs in the top flight.

Slutsky says promotion has to be the only aim but a club that has gone backwards in the last 12 months will need some major investment before the transfer window closes if momentum is to return. The squad, as it stands, is not nearly strong enough for a promotion bid.

Title: Aston Villa

Runners-up: Middlesbrough

Play-offs: Wolves, Fulham, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday

Relegation: Burton, Preston, Bolton

City’s final position: 10th

Will Jackson, Hull City writer

Following several high-profile departures and the sluggish efforts to bring players in, optimism is in short supply this summer.

After Marco Silva chose to pursue pastures new, the club acted swiftly to bring in Leonid Slutsky, an experienced manager with a lot of pedigree, but unfortunately they failed to build on that for more than a month before the eventual signing of Ola Aina.

Of course there is still a month to go to sign players but with City needing a handful more, it all feels a little late and that lack of preparation could well hold the club back once more this season.

Hull City writer Will Jackson. (Image: Jerome Ellerby)

When you look at the likes of Middlesbrough, Derby County and Wolves splashing the cash to bring in the big players and really make a push towards promotion it’s frustrating. Regrettably, the Tigers are not in that boat and will no doubt be left behind their rivals. You could have all the transfer nous in the world but without the money it’s difficult.

Best case scenario, if Slutsky can get this makeshift side to gel and get a few points on the board early then play-offs are a possibility.

But, big changes are still to be made, experience needs to be added and the threadbare squad needs numbers in order to cope with 46 games.

Realistically, at this current moment in time, unless drastic improvements are made, anything above a mid-table finish feels unlikely.

Title: Middlesbrough

Runners-up: Wolves

Play-offs: Aston Villa, Reading, Norwich City, Sheffield Wednesday

Relegation: Burton Albion, Barnsley, Preston

City’s final position: 12th

David Burns, Hull City reporter, Radio Humberside

How can you predict any form of success after another summer of departures and dilly-dallying?

The bank balance has gone up but the prospects of promotion look to have gone down.

I was impressed with the speed of appointment and apparent quality of Leonid Slutsky as coach but I have wondered since what the Russian is for “it wasn’t described like this in the brochure”.

I feel for him as it looks an ultra-competitive division and I think you need to be right at it from the start in terms of fitness, quality and depth in your squad.

The bench at the Nantes friendly looked like a Mothercare five-a-side team!

As I write this I still think he’s six or seven short though he’s saying four and I’m still not convinced his supermarket is closed!

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I’m afraid it’s another season for me where I’m also wondering what the owners plans are?

If they are serious about getting back to the land of milk and honey I’d have expected more splashing of cash, they don’t even appear to have dipped into the parachute payments.

Let’s hope the club doesn’t come down to earth with a big thud.

It also seems to me that we’re in for another season of discord and disharmony off the pitch and that also, is not a recipe for success.

Champions: Middlesbrough

Runners-up: Aston Villa

Play-off places: Fulham, Derby, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday

Relegated: Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and QPR

City’s final position: 12th

Matt Dean, Sports editor, Radio Humberside and Look North

It’s not been a summer for the impatient, has it? The first signings took an age to come, dripped in, one by one.

Then, after several largely predictable exits, came the promise that the supermarket was finally closed for business (was I alone in thinking: “Are you off your trolley??”).

As it looked like the conveyor belt of moving players was working, at one stage, in one direction only – out of the KCOM Stadium – I did wonder if an early check-out for Leonid was at all a possibility. A ruble for the real thoughts of the Russian. I’m glad he’s here, though. Still. He seems affable, charismatic and above all else, a decent appointment but he’ll need proper support in the job to succeed.

With the summer window yet to close, it’s hard to truly judge how it will pan out for him but as I write, it’s clear he needs several more players with the onus on experience, too.

BBC Radio Humberside sports editor Matt Dean.

For that reason, I would’ve liked Tom Huddlestone to have stuck around. He knows the level, had one of his better seasons last term and had the potential to be the heartbeat of a new team and era.

Instead, Sam Clucas could now be that man if he remains in East Yorkshire.

The return of Fraizer Campbell has split opinion but I know he’ll be firing if fit, given consistent supply lines.

Of course, all of what happens at the club will continue to be underpinned by the running of it. With the relationship between the Allams and a section of fans seemingly beyond repair, it would be best for all parties if a sale of the club was as much of a priority as promotion during the season ahead.

Champions: Aston Villa

Runners-up: Middlesbrough

Play-off places: Derby, Fulham, Norwich and Birmingham

Relegated: Burton, Barnsley and Millwall

City’s final position: 10th

JAMES SMAILES, HULL DAILY MAIL SPORTS EDITOR

A summer of uncertainty has become common place at Hull City over the past two years and that stretches to predicting what the next nine months holds in store for Leonid Slutsky’s team.

The club have history of defying the odds and doing the unexpected as previous promotions have shown, as well as a relegation with what many believed was Steve Bruce’s best squad ever assembled at the KCOM Stadium.

And yet, tipping an immediate return to the Premier League looks folly.

Hull Daily Mail sports editor James Smailes.

Slutsky has made some good additions and while the squad currently still looks light, Fraizer Campbell’s return is good business, while Abel Hernandez has shown before he can score goals at this level.

Reaching the top six looks tough given the spending going on among City’s rivals and while there’s no clear standout, there’s some strong competition which I suspect will edge out Slutsky’s men into a high mid-table position.